CONSTRAINING THE FOCAL MECHANISM OF THE 2015 NEPAL EARTHQUAKE WITH OBSERVATIONS OF THE CONTINUOUS GRAVITY STATIONS

On 25 April 2015, a magnitude M_S8.1 interplate thrust earthquake ruptured a densely instrumented region of Nepal. After earthquake, the focal mechanism solutions of Nepal earthquake were provided by well-respected international earthquake research institutions based on different data and methods, which were different. We compared free oscillations observed by 18 spring gravimeters of continuous gravity stations with synthetic normal modes corresponding to 3 different focal mechanisms for the Nepal earthquake, and the focal mechanisms solutions of Nepal earthquake were analyzed and constrained by spherical normal modes in a 2 to 5mHz frequency band. Based on the optimal focal mechanism, the accurate magnitude was searched. The results show that the focal mechanism of Nepal earthquake can be estimated by spherical modes in the 2 to 5mHz frequency band. The synthetic modes corresponding to the focal mechanism determined by the GCMT Moment Tensor Solution showed agreement to the observed modes, the average of misfit factors F was 0.03, and the average of scaling factors was 1.04, which was closest to 1, suggesting that earthquake magnitudes predicted in this way can reflect the total energy released by the earthquake. Based on the focal mechanism solutions provided by GCMT, keeping the strike, dip, slip, depth constant, adjusting the scalar moment, the real scalar moment was searched. When the average of scaling factors was 1, the average of misfit factors F was only 0.03. After calculation, the scalar moment of Nepal earthquake was 8.09×10²⁰ Nm, and the corresponding magnitude was M_W7.91.